Tricky
Tricky the clown is a recurring antagonist in the Madness Combat series. He started out as an assassin hired by the Sheriff and later became the primary antagonist of the Tricky saga. Up until the end of Madness Combat 7: Consternation, Tricky used the power of the Improbability Drive in order to revive repeatedly, run and jump at extremely high speeds and gain superhuman hand-to-hand fighting skills which allowed him to render the mightiest of enemies helpless. He has been killed multiple times (5 times by Hank, & once by Jesus), has been resurrected as a zombie once and possesses the ability to warp the fabric of reality. Overall, Tricky has killed 6 different characters in the series. Personality Tricky’s personality hasn’t really changed in the series. His control of the Improbability Drive seems to have made him insane, or at least more twisted than he was originally. Starting off as an assassin, Tricky's mind became more and more warped as he drew more power from the Improbability Drive. Tricky appears to have lost the ability of reason, and the capacity of common sense. An example of this is when he decided to try and steal the powers Jesus had by taking a token from his corpse, the item he believed gave Jesus his powers. But instead of stealing his Halo, he instead stole the upper-half of The Savior's skull. He then said: "How come this does not work?!" He seems to like music, and can DJ (although then Hank shot him in the face) He also seems to “play” with Hank, reviving him when he died once. He then proceeded to repeat this action throughout the Tricky saga, constantly murdering and reviving Hank, showing an extremely sadistic and vengeful way of thinking. Abilities Tricky, much like Hank, can use a variety of weapons, although he is best known for his trademark Warning Sign which he 'obtained' in Madness Combat 3: Avenger when he was impaled upon a giant marshmallow and after which he was reanimated by the Higher Powers. Tricky can hold his own against Hank and Jesus Christ easily, and seems to prefer using melee weapons over firearms. As stated before, Tricky has the ability to jump to warp heights, stretching his own tissue, and to evade anyone using a type of sudden speedburst (as seen in Madness Combat 6: Antipathy in which he powerdashed at least 40 meters backward and dropped a building between him and Hank). Through the assistance of the Improbability Drive he seems to be able to revive himself and others at will. This is seen twice in Madness Antipathy being used on Hank (at the beginning of the episode and after the brief fight between them after the train crash). He also doesn't appear to be very smart as he once tried wearing Jesus' head as a cap hoping to gain divine powers in Madness Combat 5.5. Improbability Drive As a last resort, the Sheriff activates the very first Improbability Drive to appear in the series, triggering randomized phenomena such as gravity disorders, falling space whales, and an animate sun. While the Drive was in effect, Tricky was able to bend reality and physics, toying with the impossible. He crushed Sanford and Deimos with a building full of ravers (A 'flying party'), smashed characters with a giant marshmallow, and resurrected himself multiple times, gaining more power each time. In this state, Tricky has proven able to bypass Jesus' superhuman powers and to mutilate and even murder Hank repeatedly, resurrecting him when he is killed. It is said that Tricky revives Hank as a retry after 'insufficient performance', and to gain revenge for the misery he was caused in the past, using the impotent feeling of fighting an invincible enemy combined with diabolical physical agony. When Tricky did this, he had insane powers, among of which are intense strength, near-instant revitalization, and the ability to transform into a large, demonic form immersed in white fire (as seen throughout Madness Combat 7). The Compromise of Reality Every time Tricky is killed, he becomes stronger. In Madness Depredation Tricky resurrects himself and retaliates against Hank, easily passing through his defenses. In Madness Consternation he resurrects Hank a last time, and attempts to destroy him with his demonized body. In the pinnacle of his glory, Tricky is able to exhale fire, shift size and use physical strength that corresponds to his size and appearance. Most importantly, he stores the Improbability Drive in his skull, which Hank is able to damage eventually through use of a point blank shotgun blast. Jesus eventually destroys the Improbability Drive near the end of the episode. With this, he causes Tricky to revert to his actual form, which ultimately removes his powers and reveals his battered body. Without the Drive to keep him going, he collapses, allowing Jesus to deliver a killing blow by thrusting his sword through Tricky's head and body. Appearances Madness Combat 2: Redeemer Tricky made his first real appearance in MC2. Wielding an M16 with a grenade launcher attachment, he attacked Hank in a large room with a squad of three grunts. Hank quickly dispatched the squad while dodging Tricky's shots, eventually stealing his own gun and killing him with it. At this point in time Tricky was merely a unique grunt, not posing any real threat apart from having a much stronger firearm then the grunts. However, this first defeat would only spark the vengeful relationship between him and Hank. Madness Combat 3: Avenger Tricky first appears after the Improbability Drive was activated, wielding an M60 and a jetpack. He fires at Hank, but Hank uses a dead grunt as a meat shield and blocks the oncoming bullets. Tricky then runs out of ammunition and flies off. Hank picks up a gun in an attempt to shoot Tricky when he comes back down, but he sneaks up on Hank and pushes him off of the ledge. He reappears again on the streets of Nevada after Hank kills all the agents in the area. Tricky wields a cutlass and attempts to subdue Hank, but is dismissed when Hank pins him to a large marshmallow with the warning sign. However, a bolt of energy struck Tricky's corpse after Hank left, reviving him as a zombie. This bolt was arguably caused by either Jesus or the Higher Powers, which is currently unknown. Tricky then pulls the streetsign out of his body, which would eventually become his iconic weapon. He assaults Hank a second time in a sealed-off chamber, who manages to dodge his attacks. He gets shot by Hank a few times, but he doesn't seem affected by the bullets and continues to attack him. Hank then grabs his warning sign and forces Tricky to get to the ground and disarms him. Hank then quickly grabs a gun and shoots Tricky several times, killing him once again. After the death of the sheriff, Tricky comes back to life for a third time and becomes a DJ at Club M. (Author's Note: It is not really clear how Tricky came back from his first death in MC2. People speculate that either Jesus, the Auditor or the Higher Powers brought him back. It is also a possibility that the activated "Improbability Drive" drew from Tricky's insanity and thus resurrected him.) Madness Combat 4: Apotheosis The zombified Tricky appears once again in MC4, now being the DJ of a club rather then a grunt in the field. In the introduction of the episode he can be seen putting on a metal mask (the iron slab), either to cover his still wounded face or to simply look unique, or to fool people into thinking he wasn't a zombie because his hands can be seen turning to regular color then going back to green after MC4. Hank arrives at the club in search of the clown, and slowly slaughters his way through the place, eventually making it into the basement. There, he stumbles upon Tricky, who performs his DJ act in front of a large group of grunts. Hank proceeds to shoot Tricky at the very opposite side of the room, damaging his mask. The clown, however, simply stands up again without any indication of pain, and orders the crowd to kill the intruder. After slice-and-dicing everybody in his path, Hank pushes the tip of his katana to Tricky's mask, ready to kill him as well. But suddenly, Hank's nemesis, Jesus, appears and forces him to ignore the clown for the moment by creating a large group of zombies. In the end, Hank gets mortally wounded, causing Tricky to do a shocked gesture, and he then blows himself up along with Jesus, using a suicide bomb and detonator. Tricky, who observes the aftermath, realizes that there is nobody left to dance, fight or take revenge on, and simply shrugs his shoulders. He then puts on the Techno Chicken Dance Remix from the first MC, continuing to dance all by himself. The episode ends with the words, "And he danced...". Madness Combat 5: Depredation After the events of MC4, Tricky was hired by the new leader of the AAHW, the Auditor, to eliminate both Jesus and Hank. Throughout the duration of the episode, Hank and Jesus have a constant battle going on. Towards the end of it all, the Warning Sign suddenly breaks out of the ground while Hank is fighting a large group of 1337 agents, the words "Warning: Danger" appearing. The sign then quickly slides to the right, slamming an agent to the ground in the process. Tricky then emerges from the crevice while the words "OMFG CLOWN!" appearing, showing his face at last. However, he is shot two times by Hank and falls back into the crevice, being useless once again. Jesus eventually returns to the fight and charges at Hank. This is the moment when Tricky begins to show his new and true nature. Time seems to freeze, and Tricky appears in the foreground of the scene, shaking and twitching wildly. The words "REALITY COMPROMISED, THE CLOWN HAS BEEN ENGAGED" '''can be seen, and suddenly the whole fight turns completely insane. Having been granted incredible speed and superhuman strength by the Auditor's Improbability Drive, the clown turns utterly lunatic and dangerous. Tricky then bursts from the ground between Jesus and Hank in a rupturing blast. The latter tries to shoot him, but accidentally hits Jesus. Tricky proceeds to disarm and totally overthrow his nemesis with his new agility and strength, smacking Hank up a cliff with his Warning Sign. But instead of going after him, he first turns his attention to the mortally wounded Jesus, lifting him into the air with one hand, and then decapitating him from above the jar, off-screen. Meanwhile, Hank finds himself on top of the cliff, receiving support from Sanford and Deimos, who appear with a car and hand a katana to him. However, while driving away, Tricky summons a large building from the sky, arguably Club M, and flattens the two. He then appears in front of Hank, presenting him Jesus' decapitated head and saying "PLAYER 2: '''ELIMINATED". He then engages Hank in combat with his warning sign. After a short fight, in which Hank manages to slice Tricky with his sword several times, the clown doesn't seem affected by the sword and impales his nemesis with the Warning Sign. Refusing to lose, Hank pounds Tricky and manages to slice the top of his head off, seemingly killing him. But the power of the Improbability Drive fires up once again, bringing Tricky back onto his feet. Two lines of text, "'''OMFG YOU DO NOT KILL CLOWN! CLOWN KILLS YOU!!!!", flash on screen. Tricky then charges at Hank and, in a split-second, manages to rip his head off, smashing it several times against the ground. Having killed both Hank and Jesus in his own hands, Tricky then happily makes the peace sign with both hands, the episode fading to black. This event marks Tricky's first victory over Hank and Jesus. However, he would not stop there. Even though the Auditor had ordered him to kill Hank and Jesus for his own amusement and plans, the clown would soon decide that his revenge was not yet complete. Only a little while after his victory, he installed a portable "Improbability Drive" of unclear origin into his body. He then left Hank's corpse behind along with a knife, a gun and a note saying '''"JUST DO WHAT COMES NATURAL - T" before going after Sanford and Deimos, whom he presumed to still be alive. Madness Combat 5.5 In MC5.5, Tricky decided to first pick up Jesus' decapitated head before following Sanford and Deimos. He had long despised the almighty powers of the Savior and wished for them to be his own. After retrieving the head, Tricky puts it on as a hat, hoping to gain the powers of Jesus. While Sanford and Deimos make their way through the structure that flattened and almost killed them, they witness how the world constantly flashes red, unnatural cracks appearing all over the walls. At one point, red energy starts to radiates from the cracks, causing the heads of two dead 1337 agents to explode. After the protagonists leave the room, Tricky enters it, the words "HOW COME THIS DOES NOT WORK?!!" 'flashing on screen. He furiously takes Jesus' head from his own and throws it against a wall, continuing to follow the intruders. Ironically, the red energy was probably Tricky's attempt to use Jesus' powers, but since the true source of them, the halo, was missing, it just ended up in chaotic results. Sanford and Deimos soon after reached a dead end in the next room, the only exit in form of an elevator filled with the void of red energy. Tricky quickly managed to catch up with the two, pointing at them in a "''You're going down" gesture before charging in. His extreme speed and strength easily overpowered his enemies and gave him the ability to jump to the wall in a M formation leaving behind cracks. After a short fight, Deimos was knocked through a wall by a single punch of Tricky. Sanford, realizing that they were without a chance to win, jumped through the hole to escape the clown. Somewhat disappointed, Tricky leaned outside of the hole to take a look at his still breathing enemies. He then decided that he had his fun with the two, and moved himself along with the seemingly incomplete and flying building out of view. However, after a short moment, he summoned another building out of the sky, which almost crushed Sanford and Deimos again. Ultimately, Tricky's last act of violence against the two was to summon railroad tracks below their feet inside the new stricture, a train seemingly coming from nowhere nearly rolling them over. After that event, Tricky moved on to, in his opinion, more important matters, like disobeying the orders he had gotten from the Auditor more and more. Following the events of the short chase, Tricky decided to become his own boss, no longer following anybody's orders. Having new plans in mind, he event went so far as to send the Auditor himself a message. Madness Combat 6.5 After his little game with Sanford and Deimos, Tricky once again felt the need for revenge, and proceeded to revive his nemesis Hank for the first time with his new powers, feeling confident enough to even send his old boss a chat message saying "'''SUP? n_n I do what I want!' Tricky then proceeds to spam him the message: 'You can't stop me!". The Auditor is now surprised and angered by the fact that the clown had betrayed him and realized that his game was going a little bit out of control. Without Jesus, who had quit, as a means to stop Tricky, he instead upgraded the level of his minions a little bit, somewhat curious as to how the events would eventually turn out to be in the future. Madness Combat 6: Antipathy Following the events of MC6.5, Tricky used his powers to revive Hank, who quickly stumbled upon the note and weapons the clown had left for him some time ago. Despite not really understanding the situation, Hank made his way through a nearby building, slaughtering countless of 1337 agents in his way. Meanwhile, Tricky had manned the train he had summoned in MC5.5, waiting for the right moment to strike. When Hank reached the center of the building, he stumbled upon another note of Tricky, saying : 'Very Good! Now, catch me if you can, sucka! ''-T'','' which had been attached to the old "Improbability Drive" of the dead Sheriff. Upon looking at it, the walls around Hank suddenly broke apart, while Tricky's laughing face started to flash on the computer screen screaming "'OH TEH NOES!!".'' In a split-second, Hank is nearly run over by the suddenly appearing train passing by on railroad tracks which had not been there before. Determined, Hank managed to climb inside the train, slowly making his way through the cars. Operating the train from the front, Tricky decoupled the rest of the cars to make Hank's objective harder. The latter, however, managed to reach the front just in time, desperately clinging to the edge of the front car. Tricky attempts to push Hank off by stepping on his hands, later using his Warning Sign to make him fall, but it fails. The train eventually reaches the end of the tracks, falling off the cliff and crashing on a lower one, exploding upon impact. The crash injured Hank badly, as he is barely able to get up, while Tricky remains unharmed. Tricky then proceeds to give Hank an iron pipe so that he can defend himself. The two of them fight each other once again. However, due to his injuries and exhaustion, Hank was quickly impaled by Tricky's Warning Sign for the second time, dying in a matter of seconds. Nevertheless, the clown had only just begun his act of revenge and revived Hank for the second time, seemingly amused by the whole situation. With new strength, Hank desperately struck at Tricky with his pipe, managing to knock his hat off. The clown then used his speed to move far away from his enemy and then summons another large building out of the sky. Without any alternatives, Hank hastily entered it. Meanwhile, Tricky decides to take a break, leaving his Warning sign on the ground, while Hank deals with the grunts and 1337 agents inside the building. He sees the hot dog vendor and, without a care in the world, buys a hot dog. He receives it, and then suddenly, he sees Hank, who had already got through the building, equipped with a Battle Axe and a P90. Hank then runs towards him, smashes his axe into Tricky's head and fills him with multiple rounds from his gun. The clown then falls off a cliff, seemingly defeated at last. However, this masquerade would soon be over. While falling, the words '"NO, INVALID, CLOWN CANNOT DIE, REBOOT.USE.SEEDS.AND" 'flash on the screen. This time, Tricky's portable Improbability Drive, not the Auditor's, saves him from death. A fast white flash of light shoots back up the cliff, and the true terror crashes to the ground behind Hank. Using the powers of his drive, Tricky turns himself into a massive, white, flaming demon, towering in front of his nemesis. A shocked Hank and transformed Tricky stare at each other for a few seconds. The scene then zooms in on Hank's determined face wanting to push on and finish the fight. The episode ends just as Hank fires three rounds at Tricky as the demon gives a long, inhuman roar. With the end of this episode, it was official that the weak grunt from the past had turned into a giant monster, burning with the fires of vengeance. Revenge was the only thing left within Tricky's soul, and he would continue to enjoy it to his very last breath. Madness Combat 7: Consternation In the beginning of MC7, Hank can be seen crushed at the bottom of the cliff that Tricky originally fell down, showing that their battle was obviously a short, one-sided fight. The gigantic clown then lands behind Hank, proceeding to smash him against a nearby wall. He continues to incinerate Hank with flame breath and even chews on him, who appears to be dead by that point in time. Tricky, however, is not satisfied, the words '"INCOMPLETE, RETRY, INSUFFICIENT PERFORMANCE", and "VENGEANCE, SUFFER" flashing on screen. All this obviously shows that Tricky wants Hank to suffer more, and that his nemesis should put up more of a fight and stand up again. After Hank refuses to get up, the Higher Powers intervene and restore Hank's body, causing the eternal chase to go on. Despite Hank's complaints in the form off "KNOCK IT OFF!", Tricky quickly summons new structures and 1337 agents, before starting to chase after his prey once again. Hank makes his way through the new structure, killing plenty of agents in his way, while Tricky destroys doors and even walls to follow him. The few attempts Hank makes to shoot the burning demon all result in no reaction whatsoever. After escaping Tricky in a long elevator shaft, Hank is forced to jump to a pipe on the ceiling, as the clown sets the floor of the room on fire with his flaming breath. Hank then loads his shotgun with one hand and shoots Tricky in the head, resulting in damage for the first time. The bullets pass through the portable Improbability Drive inside Tricky's head, causing its performance to drop drastically (it seems that he lost 057.99% ''of his power because of the shot). Despite the heavy damage, Tricky's determination gives him one more power boost, screaming 'MIND: STRONG and he knocks Hank through a wall with his fist before the latter can shoot a second time. The clown then gives up the chase for the moment. Some time passes after the event. Tricky decides to have his portable drive repaired by his minions and takes it out of his head, greatly decreasing his size. After handing it to one 1337 agent and two A.T.P. engineers, he turns into a smaller version of himself and makes his way through a window into the nearby building, where he first vaporizes three dead agents and then reshapes in front of the exhausted, chainsaw-wielding Hank. The two engage in battle. Despite the missing drive inside Tricky's head, the clown still proves to have strength way beyond Hank's. He quickly disarms his nemesis, the chainsaw simply being deflected from his burning skin, and begins to smack Hank into the corner of the room before picking him up and smashing him through the opposite wall. Hank lands directly in front of the two mentioned agents and an ATP engineer, which makes one more enemies first appearance, who take their attention off of Tricky's drive and prepare to take Hank into custody. However, this is the turning point of the entire series. Jesus suddenly appears on top of the building, brandishing his Binary sword and a revolver. He then jumps down, eliminating the two agents and the ATP engineer with his gun in a matter of seconds, before stabbing Hank and lifting him into the air, saying "GOODNIGHT, HANK" out of pity for Hank's constant revival, and hoping that this will be the last time he will be killed. Tricky then pokes his head out of the hole in the wall to witness Jesus killing Hank. He yells '''"HAY!!!", obviously wanting to have killed Hank himself. Jesus proceeds to shoot the portable Improbability Drive as well, completely destroying it. Before Tricky can react, his flaming demon form vanishes, and his battered, zombified self returns, all of the powers he had gained since MC5 vanishing in an instant. Tricky falls on his hands and tries to look up at Jesus, who quickly takes his sword and strikes at the clown's head, impaling it severely. Tricky then sinks to the ground, finally dying and releasing the people around him from his curse. Madness Combat 8: Inundation Tricky himself plays no role in MC8 and he still lies dead on the ground where Jesus killed him. Madness Combat 9: Aggregation Like in the previous episode, Tricky plays no important role in this episode. His dead body can be seen where Jesus killed him once again when Sanford and Deimos arrive at the scene to pick up Hank's corpse. Madness Combat 10: Abrogation The tenth installment of Madness Combat revolves entirely around the fight between MAG Hank, Sanford and the Auditor. At first, Tricky's corpse seems forgotten by everybody. The fight between the three mentioned individuals rages on and on, ultimately moving to the top of a large building that had been summoned by the villain. The Auditor, slowly being overpowered by Hank, begins to absorb more and more random dead bodies from all over the place, allowing him to grow in size and strength. However, when he absorbs the final wave of corpses, one of them just so happens to be the one of Tricky. This would mark the most fatal and last mistake of the Auditor. When Tricky's corpse is absorbed by the Auditor, the latter's body suddenly starts go out of control and releases white flames from it's back. Tricky seemingly gains a life boost from the Auditor's power and throws a random "HELLO AGAIN!!!" into the fight. The Auditor responds by yelling "WHAT?!" 'and '"NO, NO, NO!!!". Tricky, however only answers "YES, YES, YES!!!", as the flames coming out of the Auditor's back grow larger, causing him to lose control over his body more and more. Eventually, a large bolt of energy bursts out of the ground behind the Auditor and into his back, lifting him into the air and ultimately causing his body to collapse and explode into a cloud of black smoke. Madness: Project Nexus Tricky appears as a character that can be hired in Arena mode, being level 20. It should be noted that he doesn't have his mask and is the only character in-game to randomly twitch like he does. Although his trademark mask, the "Iron Slab," can be purchased in the Arena Mode, it cannot be equipped to Tricky. Incident: 101A Tricky doesn't appear until the end of the incident, where he bursts out of the cake and kills 5 grunts with an MP5, he jumps out and grabs a bit of the cake, then dropping his MP5 he grabs the box then jumps out of the window, he looks like his Project Nexus form. Trivia *It can be concluded that Tricky holds some relevance to the Auditor as he was granted the most beneficial use of the Improbability Drive over any other character. *In later episodes without the Improbability Drive, Tricky would be quite weak possibly due to his constant damage did by Hank with a P90, before being transformed into a Demon. *Tricky is a very sadistic character due to his constant reviving of Hank and decapitating of Jesus, possibly out of some crazed desire for revenge. *Tricky is tied with Jesus as the most prominent character in the series, appearing in every episode except the first. However, it could be possible that tricky was the dancing man or the Boombox Man (which would explain his love of music) in MC1. As both were killed seemingly without reason by Hank, which would explain his desire for revenge . *Tricky is seen having zombie teeth in episodes beyond Madness Combat 4. However, in MC3 and 4, he has his clown smile, but in the beginning of Madness Combat 4, he didn't get zombie teeth before Krinkels put zombie teeth on the new zombies when the text said "NO REASON". He just put a mask on so it is unknown how he got the new zombie look. *Due to an animation oversight, the bullet wounds Tricky sustained in Apotheosis are much larger at the start of Depredation and also has a larger hole in his mask. **Another thing to be noted is that, according to its name in Madness: Project Nexus, Tricky's mask should be made of iron, so It should deflect bullets, whereas it actually breaks from bullet shots and certain melee weapons (i.e. a Dragon sword, Battle Axe or a Binary sword). It was first damaged In MC4 when it received damage to the center of the mask. In MC5 it sustained more damage to the center and slightly lower, revealing some of the zombie teeth he has,as well as to the left side, and the whole top part being sliced off in the fight between him and Hank in MC5. And in MC7, it received damage down the center when Hank got him with the Battle Axe, then even more damage when it was sliced through with Jesus' Binary sword. *In Madness: Project Nexus, he is seen without his mask; however, his mask can be bought and worn as armor in Arena mode, yet cannot be equipped to Tricky. *In Madness Combat 5.5 he fights Sanford and Deimos without his streetsign. *Tricky and Jesus are the only characters with hair. Category:Characters Category:Antagonists Category:Madness: Project Nexus